This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

St John’s Super Sonic Team rocket car blasts into fifth place

Written by Sue Round on 05 July 2018.

And they're off............St John’s Year 7 Super Sonic Speed Team, Amie Smart, Jia-Ling Yu, Tristan Smith and James Stallabrass,who won the regional competition of the ‘Race for the Line’, have gained fifth place in the national final held at RAF Wittering on June 28.

Gary England, St John’s teacher and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) Co-ordinato rtold marlborough.news “Our students did so well, finishing in fifth place out of fifty seven teams, especially considering there were 78,000 students who took part in this national competition.”

St John's Year 7 Super Sonic Speed Team“Our team, Super Sonic Speed, produced a car that was light and aerodynamic and that passed through the timing gate at 60.62mph. The competition is in its third year and I believe that we were the fastest debutant school with the three schools ahead of us having raced in previous years.”

The students worked hard as a team over several months to perfect the design of their final car. They aimed to make the lightest and most aerodynamic model rocket car possible. Team member, Jia-Ling Yu said, “We divided the jobs between the team so we could make best use of the time available. James and Tristan were responsible for the aerodynamics and body shape and Amie and myself worked on the wheels and axles.”

As well as entering their car in the final competition the Year 7 team were treated to a day of ‘STEM Village’ activities supplied by the Royal Navy, the RAF, and BBC Micro:Bit. The day also included air displays from the Red Arrows and Typhoon display teams. The team were excited to meet Red Arrows Number 10 and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

Watching the Red ArrowsThe ‘Race for the Line’ competition is run by the Learning Partnership and sponsored by the RAF, Royal Navy and the Army. It is inspired by the Bloodhound SSC, the British supersonic land vehicle currently in development, whose aim is to achieve a new world land speed record.It has involved around 78,000 Year 7 / S1 students in England, Scotland and Wales.

Meeting the Red ArrowsThe competition is intended to inspire tomorrow's engineers and scientists.

It certainly had this effect on the St. John’s students. “The STEM village was a highlight as we got to talk to a lot of engineers and experts from the RAF and the Royal Navy. It was inspiring to see the different areas of engineering and made me think it would be a fun job to do when I am older,” commented Jia-Ling Yu.

Sophie Countess of Wessex meeting Aulden Dunipace from the Learning Partnership who is showing her the Styrofoam block that each team was given to shape the carJames Stallabrass summed up, “It shows how our subjects are linked, like Physics and D&T. We learnt a lot - about aerodynamics, the impact of weight. I learnt about Newton's 2nd Law of Motion. We also got to improve our making skills too.”

The Super Sonic Team are not resting after their big day. They are now, with the help of Freddie Peel Cross, their Year 7 Media and Communications Director entering a secondary competition. The school who promote the Race for the Line UK (#RFTLUK) competition the widest with the most amount of media coverage and likes, shares, retweets etc. with the #RFTLUK will win a day at The Times newspaper with the editor learning about international news and media.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. hosted by KRYSTAL site byThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.login